FAISALABAD, Jan 25: The All Pakistan Sizing Industries Association (APSIA) has decided to launch a protest campaign against the local police from Tuesday (Jan 27).

Speaking at a news conference here on Sunday, APSIA chairman Mirza Muhammad Shafique and secretary-general Shahbaz Ahmad Kissana alleged that the local police authorities were patronizing the gangsters who were looting industrialists and traders without any fear.

They said that a couple of months ago, the gunman and some workers of a sizing unit overpowered a gangster during a dacoity attempt and handed him over to the Thikriwala police.

They claimed that the police teams of Jhang and some other adjoining districts had identified the arrested accused as a wanted man but the local police high-ups helped him secure bail from a court of law.

The accused had also confessed before the police that his gang had committed dozens of dacoities in the city and its rural areas. The Sargodha Road police had arrested five more notorious bandits involved in dacoities and highway robberies. But they were freed on Jan 13 the police.

They alleged that the looted cloth and yarn were being used in the factories of police and administrative high-ups. The APSIA officials said that after the failure of the police in controlling the incidents of heinous crimes they had left with no option but to protest on roads and close their factories.

The protest movement would be launched from Jan 27 by staging a sit-in in front of the offices of the district police officer and a demonstration at the Clock Tower Chowk.

They said that the APCA, Anjuman Tajiran Faisalabad and other textile ancillary trade bodies would also be invited to join the protest campaign against the police.

Meanwhile, robbers and dacoits injured two people, looted thousands of rupees, gold and took away three motorcycles in several strikes in the city and its rural areas during the last 24 hours.

A gang of armed men seriously injured teenager Shabbir Ahmed during a dacoity attempt in Chak 100 JB in the area of Nishatabad police. Robbers looted a marriage party in Bahlak police area and injured Kubra Bibi when she resisted.

Armed men looted 45 tolas of gold, worth Rs500,000, and thousands of rupees from the house of Akram in Chak 548 GB. Armed men took away the motorcycle of Zahid from Chak Jhumra.

Armed men deprived Zulfikar Ali of his bike and thousands of rupees in Kanjwani village. They also took away the new motorcycle of Israr from the same area.